HawkEye 360, Inc.

HawkEye 360 was founded in 2015 by Chris DeMay, Charles Clancy, and Bob McGwier to leverage small satellites for the commercial collection and geolocation of RF signals. The company received seed financing from Allied Minds, a venture capital firm based in Boston.

In 2016, HawkEye 360 began contracting the construction of their Pathfinder cluster of satellites with Deep Space Industries (DSI) and University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS SFL). In November 2016, the company completed a Series A round led by Razor's Edge Ventures with major participation from Raytheon. During this period, the company also received a patent for a method of determining the location of RF transmitters.

The company's advisory board includes former members of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, former Army and Air Force officers, and former members of the intelligence community.

In December 2018, HawkEye 360 launched the company's first set of small satellites, known as the Pathfinder cluster, into orbit as part of Spaceflight's SSO-A SmallSat Express ride-share aboard a SpaceX Falcon9. As of 2024, all satellites are still operational.

In April 2019, it released its first product, RFGeo, whose purpose was to identify and locate RF signals so customers can then view and analyze data. In August 2019, the company announced a $70 million series B financing round.

In October 2019, HawkEye 360 expanded the company's signal waveform library to include ultra-high frequency (UHF) band and L band frequencies, and an update to RFGeo. The company's signal expansion into the UHF band enabled monitoring of push-to-talk radios, which could aid discovery of cross-border smuggling operations and poaching. The update to RFGeo includes a process to extract vessels' MMSI identifiers to match it to its specific broadcasts. The RFGeo update also includes a catalog of previously collected RF Geo data so customers can order and access archived data.

In December 2019, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) granted HawkEye 360 a contract to explore combining commercial RF capabilities into NRO's geospatial intelligence architecture. Also in 2019, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a license allowing HawkEye 360 to eventually launch up to 80 incremental satellites for the eventual steady-state operation of a 15-cluster constellation.

In 2020, the National Air and Space Museum added a full-size model of one of HawkEye 360's Pathfinder satellites to display in their museum as part of an upcoming exhibit detailing the story of the space age.

In 2021, the company launched its second and third satellite clusters as well as announcing raising $55 million in a series C financing round and $145 million in a series D financing round.

In 2022, the company launched its fourth and fifth satellite clusters and opened a manufacturing facility to enable constructing satellites in-house.

In 2023, the company launched its sixth and seventh satellite clusters, as well as raising $68 million in a series D-1 funding round. The series D-1 funding round included an investment from and strategic agreement with defense contractor Lockheed Martin. As of October 2023, HawkEye 360's total capital raised was $378 million.

In December 2023, HawkEye 360 acquired Maxar Intelligence 's RF Solutions business unit (formerly Aurora Insight) for an undisclosed amount.

HawkEye 360 has plans to execute and maintain a 30-satellite constellation, and the company has launched a total of ten clusters to-date. UTIAS SFL has supported the development of all ten clusters, with some clusters built directly by SFL and others built in-house by HawkEye 360 with SFL providing technical support.

On 4 May 2025, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved a Foreign Military Sales to India for the sale of HawkEye 360 technology to enhance its maritime domain awareness in the Indo-Pacific. The sale, worth $131 million, includes SeaVision software and other operational support including training.

On 10 April 2026, HawkEye 360 filed for an initial public offering, submitting their registration statement on Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission, taking the first formal step toward a public listing and trading on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker “HAWK”. On 7 May 2026, HawkEye 360 Inc. began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.